Green-Melissa Red - GenaDr. M. Graphic Organizer: Classroom-Library Lesson Plan Deconstruction
Lesson Plan Deconstruction – A.3.2
Copy and paste this graphic organizer onto your wiki page. Using different colors, each member of the partnership must respond to each bullet.
Please note which person has contributed in which color.
A graphic organizer differs from a worksheet in several important ways.
Worksheet
Graphic Organizer
One correct response for each question or blank
A diversity of responses can be correct
Formal test-like quality to practice or assess knowledge
Not standardized, more open-ended
Usually does not include teaching (new information)
Can include new information to capitalize on instructional potential
Less flexibility
Greater differentiation and support for ELLs and special education students
Does not always stimulate higher-order thinking skills
More likely to provoke higher-order thinking due to open-endedness of the possible responses
A graphic organizer should be constructed as a tool for learning. This graphic organizer follows the lesson plan template on page 15 in CRCSESL or page 17 in CRCSSSL. Read the additional information provided on this graphic organizer and use it to analyze the lesson plan you and your partner are deconstructing.
Important:
1. Each partner should use a different color font to indicate her/his contributions to this collaborative assignment. Do not use black!
2. Where you see a diamond-shaped bullet (turned into a ‘v” by wikispaces), you will need to provide a response.
3. “Yes” and “no” (or variations of these such as “none”) are incomplete answers and will earn zero points, except as noted on the checklist.
vWhich AASL ONE or TWO indicators align with this reading comprehension strategy? Note both the number and the actual language of the indicator. 1.2.1 Display initiative and engagement by posing questions and investigating the answers beyond the collection of superficial facts 2.1.2 Organize knowledge so that it is useful. 2.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to analyze and organize information 4.4.4 Interpret new information based on cultural and social context For me, 1.2.3 is the best fit with the questioning RCS.
Reading Development Level AdvancedAdvanced (from CRCSSSL)
Note: The levels indicated on the CRCSESL lesson plans correspond roughly as follows:
Emerging: Grades K-1
Advancing: Grades 2-3
Advanced: Grades 4-6
Note: The levels indicated on the CRCSSSL lesson plans correspond roughly as follows:
Advancing: Grades 7-8
Advanced: Grades 9-10
Challenging: Grades 11-22
However, these are approximations. Depending on the reading proficiency of the students with whom you work, these grades levels should be adjusted up or down. For example, I have used some of the advanced lessons in CRCSESL with less proficient 8th-grade students.
Instructional Strategies
vList them. Identifying Similarities and Differences; Summarizing and note taking; Nonlinguistic Representations; Cooperative Learning; Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback; Questions, Cues, and Advance organizers. (The bolded strategies are used in this lesson.)
Instructional Strategies used in this lesson include Cues, Classifying, Cooperative Learning, Metaphors.
Review these strategies on page 13 in CRCSESL or page 16 in CRCSSSL.
vWhich of these research-based instructional strategies have you used in your teaching? Name them. Identifying Similarities and Differences, Summarizing and note taking, Nonlinguistic Representations; Cooperative Learning; Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback; Questions, Cues and Advanced Organizers. Good Identifying similarities and differences, Summarizing and note taking, Nonlinguistic representations, Cooperative Learning, Setting objectives and providing feedback, and questions, cues, and advance organizers Good
vWhich of these instructional strategies do you need to learn? Name them and describe them. I have used all of these instructional strategies, usually not all in one lesson, but often using several during a lesson or unit. Good I have used all of these instructional strategies at some point. I will say that the use of nonlinguistic representations, where students create a representation of new information in a format that does not involve words, is the instructional strategy that I need to use more often to provide stronger support for my ESL students and struggling readers.
Good self-analysis. See the motivation section in lesson 4.1 for a kinesthetic example.
Notemaking and summarizing are ongoing responsibilities of teaching librarians. Having several notemaking strategies in our toolkits is ideal. Both notemaking and summarizing are related to the determining main ideas RCS. This is another reason to teach these important strategies in tandem.
Since identifying similarities and differences can lead to great improvement on standardized tests, it is important that we learn and teach as many different ways to compare and contrast as possible. For secondary students, recognizing (and composing) metaphors and analogies are important - and can be fun!
Lesson Length
vWhat are your questions about the lesson length? You must have at least one. See page 15 (CRCSESL) or page 17 (CRCSSSL). If you are co-teaching this lesson with the 8th grade English teachers at a campus, how do you dedicate 2 sessions to each class? There are 3 8th grade English teachers on my campus. Each has 6 classes a day. To do this lesson with everyone would require more than a week's time away from the library. How do you continue to be the "Librarian" when you are out of the library for a week when you are co-teaching a lesson with one subject/grade level? Maybe the answer is to only do lessons such as this with specific sub-classes (Core English or pre-AP English, or Gifted and Talented English classes)? Is there another way to do a lot of collaboration/co-teaching without having to close the library or find coverage for the library, or is this just a factor of what today's library looks like? Why away from the library? Couldn't these lessons be taught in the library? Sure, they could be taught in the library! It's just hard to do everything in the library that is necessary while focusing on co-teaching a lesson. I unfortunately do not have library aides every period (this year) who are able to run the circulation desk, so every time I am helping teach a lesson, I have to run back and forth-not ideal, but it works better than not being able to co-teach! You would NEVER close the library to coteach. If you have a paraprofessional on staff, she/he would manage the library so you could teach in whatever location is most effective for the instruction - the library, classroom, lab, athletic field, and beyond. In smaller districts, how do librarians manage the library when they are working with a teacher all day for 2 days? My current school does not have paraprofessionals working with our librarian. When the class comes to the library, I can see how this would work, but when the librarian goes to the classroom, how does that work? I wouldn't want to shut the library down, but I would also have reservations about middle school students unsupervised in the library. Although I always had paraprofessional support and realize that makes a HUGE difference, I always had well-trained library student aides who were able to manage the library while I taught.
I do not know where you got the idea that these lesson cannot be taught in the library. ???
Note: If you have worked within the constraints of a fixed schedule in which students come to the library just one time per week, there are many options for increasing the amount of time you spend with students. School librarians must think about the fact that NO other teachers in their buildings introduce and teach a concept on Tuesday morning at 10:00 and NEVER mention it again until the next Tuesday morning at 10:00. This is simply not an effective instructional practice.
vWhat are your strategies for getting out of the fixed schedule library box? If I were working with a fixed schedule, I think it would be difficult to get out of that. I am not sure how librarians are able to get out of a fixed schedule when they do not have an assistant. I guess you could work on getting volunteers to help check books in and out of the library or monitor those coming into the library. Starting slowly to get out of a fixed schedule may be another option-you could start by having the teachers stay with their classes in the library so that you would be free to help other teachers around the building. I don't understand the connection between the fixed schedule and having a paraprofessional. I think that I am viewing a fixed schedule where classes come in to check out books, not necessarily have a library lesson, so I was thinking about teaching a class that was NOT in the library at a fixed time, so that the paraprofessional was able to help the class in the library, and the librarian could be co-teaching with another class.
Yes, if teachers will stay with their classes in the library that is a first step in them seeing what the school librarian is contributing to student learning. Getting the teacher to actually coplan and coteach with you is the next step. See below. If I was stuck with a fixed schedule in my library, I would pray I had a co-librarian or a paraprofessional to help! With another member of the library staff in the library, any classes coming for check-outs or library lessons would not miss a beat. Ideally the library would also facilitate multiple classes or activities at the same time, but if it didn't, I would go to the classroom to work with the teacher and students in their classroom. This flexibility would allow me to be flexible with my personal schedule, even if the schedule for the library facility itself was not. If I did not have a co-librarian or paraprofessional, the next step would be to recruit some help. Parent volunteers could assist with keeping the library open while I was coteaching in a classroom or other location, and at other levels, student workers can help with circulation and re-shelving. A self-checkout station could help address this problem, as well. Some of these options don't fix all of the problems like scheduled lessons in the library, but they would at least allow the library to coteach in classrooms without having to close the library.
Agreed, but coteaching will most likely be conducted in the library MOST of the time.
Bottom line: All administrators and teachers are from Missouri and must be shown the benefits of a flexible schedule with coteaching in order to initiative/welcome this change.
Purpose
vHow is the purpose of the lesson connected—or not connected—to your idea of the type of instruction that “should” take place in the school library? This seems like a great lesson-in a social studies class. I don't see it as very connected to instruction that I would think "should" take place in the school library-unless there is a plan to further research the questions that were brought up during the lesson. I would have expected "library lessons" to include some sort of technology or further inquiry, but it would not bother me to help co-teach this lesson since building comprehension would certainly improve reading skills. Clearly, I have a different opinion. I think I wasn't very clear. My eyes are being opened to new things that are possible in the library. I love that the librarian gets to be involved in many different subjects and areas. That is one thing that draws me to the profession. In my district, our main job is to help the teachers with instruction-in all areas. It is not what I originally thought of as what happens in a library; but I'm thrilled that it is part of what school libraries are about today. While this lesson is not what many might consider a "typical" library lesson, I feel like any lesson could be considered a library lesson. Even though this lesson has more of a social studies focus, it is a reading comprehension lesson. Reading is skill necessary in all subject areas--in all aspects of life, actually. I am actually really excited about the idea of the librarian helping teachers and students with reading across the curriculum. Reading comprehension promotes student success in all areas, and the English Language Arts/Reading teachers will appreciate someone else helping students develop reading skills outside of the ELAR classroom.
Some school librarians think helping students develop a "love" of reading and teaching research are their main jobs. While these are important, both can leave out all of the striving and struggling readers who cannot develop that love and become effective researchers because they cannot make meaning from texts. Coteaching RCS reinforces the love AND helps those who need more tools in order to make meaning from texts.
This is particularly important at the secondary level where the expectation is that all students can comprehend difficult texts AND very few classroom teachers in the content areas (if any) know how to help them in terms of reading comprehension. This is true (and so sad!)
This is a golden opportunity for school librarians. I hope you will reconsider it.
vList at least one verb that is used to name what students will do for every objective in this lesson; list the corresponding level on Bloom’s. Use this chart.
Example:
Objective
Verb
Level on Bloom’s
Objective 1
Identify
Comprehension
Pose and record before, during and after questions on a category matrix Pose and record before, during, and after questions on a category matrix
Question Question
Analysis Analysis
Categorize questions: on the line, between the lines, unanswered text Categorize questions: on the line, between the lines, unanswered text
Categorize Categorize
Analysis Analysis
Evaluate questions and determine their importance in comprehending text Evaluate questions and determine their importance in comprehending text
Evaluate Evaluate, determine
Evaluation Evaluation, evaluation
Determine importance of questions in comprehending text
Choose
Evaluation
Excellent analysis
Resources, Materials, and Equipment (List them!)
Children’s Literature, Young Adult Literature, or Other Resources- Editorial Cartoon "Asterisk" by David Fitzsimmons Editorial cartoon "Asterisk" by David Fitzsimmons
Websites: The Editorial Cartoons of Clay Bennett: www.claybennett.com/archives.html The Editorial Cartoons of Clay Bennett: www.claybennett.com/archives.html
Graphic Organizers (Graphic organizers for both books are on the ALA Editions Web Extras Web site.): Venn Diagram, all for 5.2: Category Matrix, Question Evaluation Graphic Organizer. There are also completed resources for the teacher to aid in planning 5.2 Category Matrix, 5.2 Teacher Resource -- Completed Category Matrix, 5.2 Questions Evaluation Graphic Organizer, 5.2 Teacher Resource--Completed Question Evaluation Graphic Organizer
Materials: Highlighters for educators and students in same 3 colors Thick highlighters in three colors for the educators and fine highlighters in the same colors for students (if not working electronically) Good
Equipment: Overhead, Data projector or interactive white board, some device to connect to the internet (computer or tablet) Educators will need an overhead or data projector, or an interactive white board to present the lesson. Students will need a computer or mobile device with Internet access.
vWhich are the different formats or genres used to support learners? Graphic Novels, and Editorial cartoons are being used to support learners. Students are supported through the use of editorial cartoons.
vWhich technology tools are used? If technology is not used in this lesson, do you think there are appropriate tools to help students meet the lesson objectives? Name those tools and how you would use them. Students are using the internet to access additional editorial cartoons. By providing a website, the teachers have already vetted the site. There are many cartoons on this site from which students are able to choose another one to question. I feel that this is a good use of technology. I may have their matrices also available as a template for them to fill out with their partners rather than with pencil, paper, and highlighters. Agreed as long as there is sufficient technology/access available Students use the internet to access additional editorial cartoons from a website selected by the educators. An additional tool that would be useful is Google Docs. The teacher could convert the matrices into Google Doc Templates, distribute to students through a CMS system like Google Classroom, or share a link to automatically make a copy via school email. Then students will be able to work collaboratively in the same document at the same time.
v Collaboration - These lessons focus on what the educators are doing in terms of collaboration because many do not have coteaching experience. Students are working as a whole class to see how to begin the questioning process and how to evaluate it. Then they get the chance to work in pairs and try the process with a partner. They also have the opportunity to pair with a different partner to discuss what they have learned. Working in these different groupings will allow students to understand these cartoons from different people's perspectives and to help explain what they understand to others. These processes should allow for a greater understanding of the information gained from the cartoons. What about the teachers' collaboration? Absolutely! Teachers are collaborating, setting that example, working together and able to each bring something unique to the lesson!
Students and educators collaborate to begin the process by define editorial cartoons by comparing and contrasting them with graphic novels and continue to work as a whole group to read the cartoon and generate questions and categorize them according to the QARs. Students then work in pairs or small groups to select another cartoon to questions. The pattern of beginning in whole group and breaking into pairs or small groups is repeated on Day 2 to determine the most helpful questions in each category and to develop a metaphor for using the questioning strategy. By working together as a group, students benefit from the educators' modeling both questioning strategies and completing the graphic organizers. When they work in pairs or small groups, students can practice the skills with more independence, but they will have the support of their partners or group members to discuss their questions and ideas with. Working together, students will learn from the strengths of others while sharing their own knowledge.
Please revisit the lesson and focus on how the educators are working as equal partners in the instruction. This will be a critical component on your original lesson plan/unit.
vHow does this lesson maximize the benefits of two (or more) educators coteaching? Be specific. Students will get the benefit of hearing questions posed from two different educators. There are bound to be some differences in interpretations of these cartoons. The lesson is able to move at a good pace since one educator is recording the questions while the other is sharing questions and asking students for input and using highlights to show the QARs. When students are in pairs or groups, there are two educators monitoring and helping as needed. Agreed When the teacher and librarian collaborate on this lesson, students hear two different approaches to questioning the editorial cartoon. Additionally, students see a good example of what collaboration looks like before they break into pairs or small groups to work on their own. Student pairs/small groups will also have more opportunity for individual attention if two educators are coteaching the lesson, as well. As the educators are monitoring the pair/group work, students will continue to benefit from having feedback from multiple perspectives.
v Assessments Monitoring occurs while in small groups to check for understanding. Assessment is also conducted while discussing challenges after practice, viewing matrices. A final assessment can be done when reading the reflective paragraphs. Agreed Educators assess by monitoring students as they work in pairs/small groups and by evaluating student completion of questioning matrices, question evaluation graphic organizer for the second cartoon, and the one-paragraph reflection.
vAre there multiple methods/tools for educators to assess student outcomes? If there’s one, name it. If there are multiple, name them. Checking matrices is one way to check for understanding. Another is to look at the completed question evaluation graphic organizer and read their reflective paragraph which includes a metaphor for questioning. Agreed Educators assess students by monitoring their progress as they work in pairs/small groups. They will also evaluate student completion of questioning matrices to assess their ability to ask before reading, during reading, and after reading questions. Additionally, educators will also assess student work on the question evaluation graphic organizer for the second cartoon and the one-paragraph reflection in which student created an metaphor for using questioning strategies. Educators must establish criteria for the quality of the completed matrices.
vAre there opportunities for learners to self assess? (AASL Strand #4: Self-Assessment Strategies) What are they? The opportunities for learners to self assess in this lesson include their ability to understand the cartoon when they are finished with the questioning. They can also self-assess when they are filling out the question matrices by seeing what types of questions they are asking. If the teacher has set up the criteria to have a certain number of each type of question (on the line, between the lines, or unanswered in the text) this will aid in the self-assessment. Agreed In the lesson, students have the opportunity to use the matrices to focus their efforts on interpreting political cartoons through their use of questions. Students then have the opportunity to compare their completed matrices to the teacher-established guidelines to determine their own levels of success, as well.
Standards
v (List them!)
Reading and/or writing Listening and speaking
Other content areas
Information literacy
Educational technology
vWhat content-area standards are integrated into this lesson? List them. Use specific standards from state standards in Texas or the state you and your partner have negotiated. English: 13a Reading/Media Literacy: evaluate the role of media in focusing attention on events and informing opinion on issues; What about a standard related to "describing historical/cultural" aspects of texts. 20 Writing/Conventions of Language/Handwriting. Students write legibly and use appropriate capitalization and punctuation conventions in their compositions. Students will continue to apply earlier standards with greater complexity.
I wouldn't include this one unless I was assessing the paragraph in this way. This is not being done in this lesson as written.
26 Listening and Speaking/Listening. Students will use comprehension skills to listen attentively to others in formal and informal settings. Students will continue to apply earlier standards with greater complexity. I would select one or the other of these. 28 Listening and Speaking/Teamwork. Students work productively with others in teams. Students will continue to apply earlier standards with greater complexity. Students are expected to participate productively in discussions, plan agendas with clear goals and deadlines, set time limits for speakers, take notes, and vote on key issues.
Social Studies: 1 History: The student understands traditional historical points of reference in U.S. history through 1877 29 b Social Studies Skills: Analyze information by sequencing, categorizing, identifying cause-and-effect relationships, comparing, contrasting, finding the main idea, summarizing, making generalizations and predictions, and drawing inferences and conclusions; 29 c Social Studies Skills: organize and interpret information from outlines, reports, databases, and visuals, including graphs, charts, timelines, and maps; 29 f Social Studies Skills: identify bias in written, oral and visual material Agreed I believe your social studies TEKS show the benefits of interdisciplinary learning and teaching. I have been out of the classroom for 20 years-and taught outside of Texas and never had to turn in lesson plans or tie things to standards. I was trying to include anything that I could find that went with what was being taught. I will be more selective in the future.
Reading and/or Writing: 8th grade English Language Arts TEKS 13A - interpret both explicit and implicit messages in various forms of media Agreed Listening and Speaking: 8th grade English Language Arts TEKS 28 - Students are expected to participate productively in discussions, plan agendas with clear goals and deadlines, set time limits for speakers, take notes, and vote on key issues. I don't think this is being assessed in this lesson. Social Studies: 8th grade Social Studies TEKS 29B - analyze information by sequencing, categorizing, identifying cause-and-effect relationships, comparing, contrasting, finding the main idea, summarizing, making generalizations and predictions, and drawing inferences and conclusions 29C - organize and interpret information from outlines, reports, databases, and visuals, including graphs, charts, timelines, and maps 29F - identify bias in written, oral, and visual material
Information Literacy: 8th grade Technology Applications TEKS 3D - process data and communicate results This usually refers to numerical data. Educational Technology:8th grade Technology Applications TEKS 6D - understand and use software applications, including selecting and using software for a defined task
vWhich AASL indicators align with this lesson? Give both the number and the description for each. 1.2.1 Display initiative and engagement by posing questions and investigating the answers beyond the collection of superficial facts. 2.1.2 Organize knowledge so that it is useful 2.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to analyze and organize information 2.3.2 Consider diverse and global perspectives in drawing conclusions 4.4.4 Interpret new information based on cultural and social context.
1.2.1 Display initiative and engagement by posing questions and investigating the answers beyond the collection of superficial facts. 2.1.2 Organize knowledge so that it is useful 2.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to analyze and organize information 2.3.2 Consider diverse and global perspectives in drawing conclusions 4.4.4 Interpret new information based on cultural and social context
Implementation
Process
Motivation Cues: Project the 5.2 Editorial Cartoon “Asterisk,” by David Fitzsimmons. Educators and students work together to create a working definition of the editorial cartoon genre by explaining the similarities and differences between graphic novels and editorial cartoons. One educator guides the students’ input while the other records their responses in a Venn diagram.
Motivation is also known as “anticipatory set” in the Madeline Hunter, EEI lesson plan design.
vWill this invitation to learn be effective in capturing students’ interest? Why or why not? I think this invitation to learn will be interesting to most students. Some are turned off by graphic novels and cartoons in general. For those, comparing the two may not be a good way to capture interest. I would be interested in knowing how widespread that is. I think of cartoons (3 to 5 panels) and editorial cartoons (often one panel) as being very different from graphic novels.
Building on the students’ prior knowledge of graphic novels will capture many students’ interest, even though students who don’t like graphic novels may not find this as motivating. The idea of studying a text that is image driven will still pique their interest.
vWhat are your ideas to increase student buy-in to this lesson? Give at least one. I think that one way to increase student buy-in is to show several types of graphic novels. This may be the perfect way to introduce them to a new genre that would be something new and fun to read. See above. To increase student buy-in without losing the focus on visual texts, I might consider other types of visual texts that I could compare and contrast with editorial cartoons, such as print advertisements or high quality brochures with many images. Agreed. Another possibility is to look at these as an extension of this lesson.
Student-friendly Objectives
Ask questions before, during, and after reading.
Decide the question category.
Determine the QARs.
vAre these objectives at the instructional level of the targeted students? Give an example. I think that a group of advanced 8th graders would be able to meet these objectives. Students at all ages are able to ask questions before, during and after reading. At this age they should also be able to categorize the types of questions they are asking. Agreed As upper level 8th grade students, our targeted audience for this lesson should have no problem asking questions before, during, and after they read. Additionally, they should easily be able to decide the category for their questions and determine the QAR.
vAre there terms in these objectives that may need to be taught to students? Give an example. I think students would need to be taught what a QAR is. I also think they may need a definition of relative importance. Agreed. We teach vocabulary best by "doing" it. Learning and practicing the same concepts/words in the classroom and library helps ensure students' comprehension. Eighth graders will need a definition of QARs and may need examples of what “in the text,” “between the lines,” and “beyond the text” questions look like. Once they have seen a couple of examples, they should not have much difficulty.
Presentation
vDescribe the modeling aspect of this lesson. The first cartoon is shown to the whole class while the educators model the types of questions that may be asked before, during and after reading. They also show students how to categorize the questions and how to determine the QAR. Yes Educators work together to model the development of questions before, during, and after they read while recording them in the proper category on the matrix.
vHow are the benefits of two or more educators maximized in the presentation component? One educator is able to record answers while the other shares questions. There are two educators available to monitor during group work.
Agreed The presentation of this lesson makes valuable use of two or more educators as one educator records responses from the other educator and students, enabling the class discussion to flow much more quickly. When both teachers contribute to the class discussion, students are also able to see multiple perspectives.
Think alouds are essential in all strategy instruction. For most school librarians, this is a growth opportunity when coteaching/teaching information literacy/inquiry skills as well as RCS.
Student Participation Procedures
Raise hand to stop reading.
Ask question and determine the category
Propose the QAR
or
Student Practice Procedures
Day 1
Discuss the ideas with partner(s).
Pose and record before, during, and after questions.
Code the QAR for each question asked.
Day 2
Determine the most useful before, during, and after questions.
Record a metaphor for the questioning strategy.
Compose a one-paragraph reflection that develops the metaphor.
vAre the directions clear? Give an example. Students know what to do-the directions are clear-students raise hand when they have a question to pose and the educator stops reading. That question is asked and categorized and then the QAR is suggested. Agreed. Student participation and procedures should be posted. These can be especially beneficial for ELLs and special needs students. Students' ability to follow them is also improved by classroom-library collaboration when these are applied the same in both the classroom and the library. The directions are very clear. From these instructions, middle school students should know exactly what to do. For example,when working with a partner or small group to complete the 5.2 Category Matrix, students have their exact process lined out for them. They should first discuss their ideas with their partner(s), ask and record their questions, and the categorize each question.
Guided Practice In the guided practice portion of the lesson, educators monitor group work and the students’ ability to determine the most useful questions and develop a metaphor.
vHow are the benefits of two or more educators maximized in the guided practice component? During Guided Practice there are two educators to monitor what the small groups are doing. They can help more students and listen in to more conversations to help keep students on track and explain things further if needed. Agreed Having multiple educators allows for closer monitoring of students as they complete their matrices, determine the most helpful questions, and write their metaphors. They educators, as a team, will be able to listen in on more student conversations to get an overall picture of the group’s understanding of the questioning strategy. As students seek feedback from the educators, they will also benefit from the different perspectives that comes from having more than one teacher in the room.
Closure In the closure, students are paired with a different partner who read a different political cartoon where each one shares the topic, most helpful questions, and their reflections. Volunteers may read their reflections to the whole class. Yes vAre students active in the closure component? What are students doing for closure? During closure students are active. They are sharing and discussing their questions and sharing what they had problems with. Agreed Students are very active in the closure. They are giving an overview of their cartoon and the most useful questions they asked to comprehend it and sharing their reflective paragraph.
Reflection In the reflection, students address the following questions: How did questioning help us comprehend the text?, What was the most powerful metaphor you heard? and When might you use questioning with other kinds of texts.
vHow is the reflection component related to the learning objectives? The reflection component has students tell how questioning helped them understand the text as well as what other types of text questioning may be helpful with. This ties back to the objective in that they not only were able to ask questions, but find out why that is helpful or important when trying to understand a text. Agreed The questions posed in the reflection directly align with the third objective -- evaluate questions and determine their relative importance in comprehending the text. The correlation is strongest with the third objective, but that is the objective with the highest thinking level. The first two objectives -- pose and record before, during, and after reading questions on a category matrix and categorize questions based on the possible location of the answer--function more as scaffolds to help move readers along to the higher level objective.
It is important for educators to commit closure and reflection to paper because it increases the likelihood that we will implement them. It is important to keep students active in both rather than summarizing or reflecting for them, which is what we do when we run out of time. If we understand this is when students crystalize their learning, then we will not scrimp on these lesson components.
Extensions
Provided extensions include: conducting an inquiry based on the students’ unanswered questions while continuing to demonstrate questioning strategies throughout the inquiry process and provide students with lessons that prompt them to engage in asking before, during, and after questions while learning with other media such as film and websites.
vWhat are your other ideas for extensions to this lesson? Describe at least one. You could explore the different Persuasive Techniques used in political cartoons. The questioning strategies would be a little different in that you may ask things like why a cartoonist might have shown a relationship the way that they did or whether there is another way to show the same idea. Excellent ideas. I would continue to focus on applying the questioning strategy to visual texts by having students use questioning to comprehend historical photographs from websites like the Library of Congress.
Never let a published lesson plan limit your creativity!
Remember: Extensions are further invitations to classroom-library collaboration. They are worth thinking about during the planning stage!
30 Possible Points
Plus Individual Reflection – 20 Possible Points – See the A.3.2 Rubric for details.
Red - GenaDr. M.
Graphic Organizer: Classroom-Library Lesson Plan Deconstruction
Lesson Plan Deconstruction – A.3.2
Copy and paste this graphic organizer onto your wiki page. Using different colors, each member of the partnership must respond to each bullet.
Please note which person has contributed in which color.
A graphic organizer differs from a worksheet in several important ways.
A graphic organizer should be constructed as a tool for learning. This graphic organizer follows the lesson plan template on page 15 in CRCSESL or page 17 in CRCSSSL. Read the additional information provided on this graphic organizer and use it to analyze the lesson plan you and your partner are deconstructing.
Important:
1. Each partner should use a different color font to indicate her/his contributions to this collaborative assignment. Do not use black!
2. Where you see a diamond-shaped bullet (turned into a ‘v” by wikispaces), you will need to provide a response.
3. “Yes” and “no” (or variations of these such as “none”) are incomplete answers and will earn zero points, except as noted on the checklist.
Reading Comprehension Strategy: Questioning Questioning
Instructional Level: 8th Grade Pre-AP/GT 8th Grade Pre-AP/GT (Advanced)
Planning
vName the RCS. Questioning Questioning
vWhich AASL ONE or TWO indicators align with this reading comprehension strategy? Note both the number and the actual language of the indicator.
1.2.1 Display initiative and engagement by posing questions and investigating the answers beyond the collection of superficial facts
2.1.2 Organize knowledge so that it is useful.
2.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to analyze and organize information
4.4.4 Interpret new information based on cultural and social context
For me, 1.2.3 is the best fit with the questioning RCS.
Note: The levels indicated on the CRCSESL lesson plans correspond roughly as follows:
Emerging: Grades K-1
Advancing: Grades 2-3
Advanced: Grades 4-6
Note: The levels indicated on the CRCSSSL lesson plans correspond roughly as follows:
Advancing: Grades 7-8
Advanced: Grades 9-10
Challenging: Grades 11-22
However, these are approximations. Depending on the reading proficiency of the students with whom you work, these grades levels should be adjusted up or down. For example, I have used some of the advanced lessons in CRCSESL with less proficient 8th-grade students.
vList them. Identifying Similarities and Differences; Summarizing and note taking; Nonlinguistic Representations; Cooperative Learning; Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback; Questions, Cues, and Advance organizers. (The bolded strategies are used in this lesson.)
Instructional Strategies used in this lesson include Cues, Classifying, Cooperative Learning, Metaphors.
Review these strategies on page 13 in CRCSESL or page 16 in CRCSSSL.
vWhich of these research-based instructional strategies have you used in your teaching? Name them.
Identifying Similarities and Differences, Summarizing and note taking, Nonlinguistic Representations; Cooperative Learning; Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback; Questions, Cues and Advanced Organizers.
Good
Identifying similarities and differences, Summarizing and note taking, Nonlinguistic representations, Cooperative Learning, Setting objectives and providing feedback, and questions, cues, and advance organizers
Good
vWhich of these instructional strategies do you need to learn? Name them and describe them.
I have used all of these instructional strategies, usually not all in one lesson, but often using several during a lesson or unit.
Good
I have used all of these instructional strategies at some point. I will say that the use of nonlinguistic representations, where students create a representation of new information in a format that does not involve words, is the instructional strategy that I need to use more often to provide stronger support for my ESL students and struggling readers.
Good self-analysis. See the motivation section in lesson 4.1 for a kinesthetic example.
Notemaking and summarizing are ongoing responsibilities of teaching librarians. Having several notemaking strategies in our toolkits is ideal. Both notemaking and summarizing are related to the determining main ideas RCS. This is another reason to teach these important strategies in tandem.
Since identifying similarities and differences can lead to great improvement on standardized tests, it is important that we learn and teach as many different ways to compare and contrast as possible. For secondary students, recognizing (and composing) metaphors and analogies are important - and can be fun!
vWhat are your questions about the lesson length? You must have at least one. See page 15 (CRCSESL) or page 17 (CRCSSSL).
If you are co-teaching this lesson with the 8th grade English teachers at a campus, how do you dedicate 2 sessions to each class? There are 3 8th grade English teachers on my campus. Each has 6 classes a day. To do this lesson with everyone would require more than a week's time away from the library. How do you continue to be the "Librarian" when you are out of the library for a week when you are co-teaching a lesson with one subject/grade level? Maybe the answer is to only do lessons such as this with specific sub-classes (Core English or pre-AP English, or Gifted and Talented English classes)? Is there another way to do a lot of collaboration/co-teaching without having to close the library or find coverage for the library, or is this just a factor of what today's library looks like?
Why away from the library? Couldn't these lessons be taught in the library? Sure, they could be taught in the library! It's just hard to do everything in the library that is necessary while focusing on co-teaching a lesson. I unfortunately do not have library aides every period (this year) who are able to run the circulation desk, so every time I am helping teach a lesson, I have to run back and forth-not ideal, but it works better than not being able to co-teach!
You would NEVER close the library to coteach. If you have a paraprofessional on staff, she/he would manage the library so you could teach in whatever location is most effective for the instruction - the library, classroom, lab, athletic field, and beyond.
In smaller districts, how do librarians manage the library when they are working with a teacher all day for 2 days? My current school does not have paraprofessionals working with our librarian. When the class comes to the library, I can see how this would work, but when the librarian goes to the classroom, how does that work? I wouldn't want to shut the library down, but I would also have reservations about middle school students unsupervised in the library.
Although I always had paraprofessional support and realize that makes a HUGE difference, I always had well-trained library student aides who were able to manage the library while I taught.
I do not know where you got the idea that these lesson cannot be taught in the library. ???
Note: If you have worked within the constraints of a fixed schedule in which students come to the library just one time per week, there are many options for increasing the amount of time you spend with students. School librarians must think about the fact that NO other teachers in their buildings introduce and teach a concept on Tuesday morning at 10:00 and NEVER mention it again until the next Tuesday morning at 10:00. This is simply not an effective instructional practice.
vWhat are your strategies for getting out of the fixed schedule library box?
If I were working with a fixed schedule, I think it would be difficult to get out of that. I am not sure how librarians are able to get out of a fixed schedule when they do not have an assistant. I guess you could work on getting volunteers to help check books in and out of the library or monitor those coming into the library. Starting slowly to get out of a fixed schedule may be another option-you could start by having the teachers stay with their classes in the library so that you would be free to help other teachers around the building.
I don't understand the connection between the fixed schedule and having a paraprofessional. I think that I am viewing a fixed schedule where classes come in to check out books, not necessarily have a library lesson, so I was thinking about teaching a class that was NOT in the library at a fixed time, so that the paraprofessional was able to help the class in the library, and the librarian could be co-teaching with another class.
Yes, if teachers will stay with their classes in the library that is a first step in them seeing what the school librarian is contributing to student learning. Getting the teacher to actually coplan and coteach with you is the next step. See below.
If I was stuck with a fixed schedule in my library, I would pray I had a co-librarian or a paraprofessional to help! With another member of the library staff in the library, any classes coming for check-outs or library lessons would not miss a beat. Ideally the library would also facilitate multiple classes or activities at the same time, but if it didn't, I would go to the classroom to work with the teacher and students in their classroom. This flexibility would allow me to be flexible with my personal schedule, even if the schedule for the library facility itself was not. If I did not have a co-librarian or paraprofessional, the next step would be to recruit some help. Parent volunteers could assist with keeping the library open while I was coteaching in a classroom or other location, and at other levels, student workers can help with circulation and re-shelving. A self-checkout station could help address this problem, as well. Some of these options don't fix all of the problems like scheduled lessons in the library, but they would at least allow the library to coteach in classrooms without having to close the library.
Agreed, but coteaching will most likely be conducted in the library MOST of the time.
Bottom line: All administrators and teachers are from Missouri and must be shown the benefits of a flexible schedule with coteaching in order to initiative/welcome this change.
vHow is the purpose of the lesson connected—or not connected—to your idea of the type of instruction that “should” take place in the school library?
This seems like a great lesson-in a social studies class. I don't see it as very connected to instruction that I would think "should" take place in the school library-unless there is a plan to further research the questions that were brought up during the lesson. I would have expected "library lessons" to include some sort of technology or further inquiry, but it would not bother me to help co-teach this lesson since building comprehension would certainly improve reading skills.
Clearly, I have a different opinion. I think I wasn't very clear. My eyes are being opened to new things that are possible in the library. I love that the librarian gets to be involved in many different subjects and areas. That is one thing that draws me to the profession. In my district, our main job is to help the teachers with instruction-in all areas. It is not what I originally thought of as what happens in a library; but I'm thrilled that it is part of what school libraries are about today.
While this lesson is not what many might consider a "typical" library lesson, I feel like any lesson could be considered a library lesson. Even though this lesson has more of a social studies focus, it is a reading comprehension lesson. Reading is skill necessary in all subject areas--in all aspects of life, actually. I am actually really excited about the idea of the librarian helping teachers and students with reading across the curriculum. Reading comprehension promotes student success in all areas, and the English Language Arts/Reading teachers will appreciate someone else helping students develop reading skills outside of the ELAR classroom.
Some school librarians think helping students develop a "love" of reading and teaching research are their main jobs. While these are important, both can leave out all of the striving and struggling readers who cannot develop that love and become effective researchers because they cannot make meaning from texts. Coteaching RCS reinforces the love AND helps those who need more tools in order to make meaning from texts.
This is particularly important at the secondary level where the expectation is that all students can comprehend difficult texts AND very few classroom teachers in the content areas (if any) know how to help them in terms of reading comprehension. This is true (and so sad!)
This is a golden opportunity for school librarians. I hope you will reconsider it.
Review Bloom’s Taxonomy: http://ww2.odu.edu/educ/roverbau/Bloom/blooms_taxonomy.htm
vList at least one verb that is used to name what students will do for every objective in this lesson; list the corresponding level on Bloom’s. Use this chart.
Example:
Pose and record before, during, and after questions on a category matrix
Question
Analysis
Categorize questions: on the line, between the lines, unanswered text
Categorize
Analysis
Evaluate questions and determine their importance in comprehending text
Evaluate, determine
Evaluation, evaluation
- Resources, Materials, and Equipment (List them!)
Children’s Literature, Young Adult Literature, or Other Resources-Editorial Cartoon "Asterisk" by David Fitzsimmons
Editorial cartoon "Asterisk" by David Fitzsimmons
Websites:
The Editorial Cartoons of Clay Bennett: www.claybennett.com/archives.html
The Editorial Cartoons of Clay Bennett: www.claybennett.com/archives.html
Graphic Organizers (Graphic organizers for both books are on the ALA Editions Web Extras Web site.):
Venn Diagram, all for 5.2: Category Matrix, Question Evaluation Graphic Organizer. There are also completed resources for the teacher to aid in planning
5.2 Category Matrix, 5.2 Teacher Resource -- Completed Category Matrix, 5.2 Questions Evaluation Graphic Organizer, 5.2 Teacher Resource--Completed Question Evaluation Graphic Organizer
Materials:
Highlighters for educators and students in same 3 colors
Thick highlighters in three colors for the educators and fine highlighters in the same colors for students (if not working electronically)
Good
Equipment:
Overhead, Data projector or interactive white board, some device to connect to the internet (computer or tablet)
Educators will need an overhead or data projector, or an interactive white board to present the lesson. Students will need a computer or mobile device with Internet access.
vWhich are the different formats or genres used to support learners?
Graphic Novels, and Editorial cartoons are being used to support learners.
Students are supported through the use of editorial cartoons.
vWhich technology tools are used? If technology is not used in this lesson, do you think there are appropriate tools to help students meet the lesson objectives? Name those tools and how you would use them.
Students are using the internet to access additional editorial cartoons. By providing a website, the teachers have already vetted the site. There are many cartoons on this site from which students are able to choose another one to question. I feel that this is a good use of technology. I may have their matrices also available as a template for them to fill out with their partners rather than with pencil, paper, and highlighters.
Agreed as long as there is sufficient technology/access available
Students use the internet to access additional editorial cartoons from a website selected by the educators. An additional tool that would be useful is Google Docs. The teacher could convert the matrices into Google Doc Templates, distribute to students through a CMS system like Google Classroom, or share a link to automatically make a copy via school email. Then students will be able to work collaboratively in the same document at the same time.
v Collaboration - These lessons focus on what the educators are doing in terms of collaboration because many do not have coteaching experience.
Students are working as a whole class to see how to begin the questioning process and how to evaluate it. Then they get the chance to work in pairs and try the process with a partner. They also have the opportunity to pair with a different partner to discuss what they have learned. Working in these different groupings will allow students to understand these cartoons from different people's perspectives and to help explain what they understand to others. These processes should allow for a greater understanding of the information gained from the cartoons.
What about the teachers' collaboration? Absolutely! Teachers are collaborating, setting that example, working together and able to each bring something unique to the lesson!
Students and educators collaborate to begin the process by define editorial cartoons by comparing and contrasting them with graphic novels and continue to work as a whole group to read the cartoon and generate questions and categorize them according to the QARs. Students then work in pairs or small groups to select another cartoon to questions. The pattern of beginning in whole group and breaking into pairs or small groups is repeated on Day 2 to determine the most helpful questions in each category and to develop a metaphor for using the questioning strategy. By working together as a group, students benefit from the educators' modeling both questioning strategies and completing the graphic organizers. When they work in pairs or small groups, students can practice the skills with more independence, but they will have the support of their partners or group members to discuss their questions and ideas with. Working together, students will learn from the strengths of others while sharing their own knowledge.
Please revisit the lesson and focus on how the educators are working as equal partners in the instruction. This will be a critical component on your original lesson plan/unit.
vHow does this lesson maximize the benefits of two (or more) educators coteaching? Be specific.
Students will get the benefit of hearing questions posed from two different educators. There are bound to be some differences in interpretations of these cartoons. The lesson is able to move at a good pace since one educator is recording the questions while the other is sharing questions and asking students for input and using highlights to show the QARs. When students are in pairs or groups, there are two educators monitoring and helping as needed.
Agreed
When the teacher and librarian collaborate on this lesson, students hear two different approaches to questioning the editorial cartoon. Additionally, students see a good example of what collaboration looks like before they break into pairs or small groups to work on their own. Student pairs/small groups will also have more opportunity for individual attention if two educators are coteaching the lesson, as well. As the educators are monitoring the pair/group work, students will continue to benefit from having feedback from multiple perspectives.
v Assessments
Monitoring occurs while in small groups to check for understanding. Assessment is also conducted while discussing challenges after practice, viewing matrices. A final assessment can be done when reading the reflective paragraphs.
Agreed
Educators assess by monitoring students as they work in pairs/small groups and by evaluating student completion of questioning matrices, question evaluation graphic organizer for the second cartoon, and the one-paragraph reflection.
vAre there multiple methods/tools for educators to assess student outcomes? If there’s one, name it. If there are multiple, name them.
Checking matrices is one way to check for understanding. Another is to look at the completed question evaluation graphic organizer and read their reflective paragraph which includes a metaphor for questioning.
Agreed
Educators assess students by monitoring their progress as they work in pairs/small groups. They will also evaluate student completion of questioning matrices to assess their ability to ask before reading, during reading, and after reading questions. Additionally, educators will also assess student work on the question evaluation graphic organizer for the second cartoon and the one-paragraph reflection in which student created an metaphor for using questioning strategies. Educators must establish criteria for the quality of the completed matrices.
vAre there opportunities for learners to self assess? (AASL Strand #4: Self-Assessment Strategies) What are they?
The opportunities for learners to self assess in this lesson include their ability to understand the cartoon when they are finished with the questioning. They can also self-assess when they are filling out the question matrices by seeing what types of questions they are asking. If the teacher has set up the criteria to have a certain number of each type of question (on the line, between the lines, or unanswered in the text) this will aid in the self-assessment.
Agreed
In the lesson, students have the opportunity to use the matrices to focus their efforts on interpreting political cartoons through their use of questions. Students then have the opportunity to compare their completed matrices to the teacher-established guidelines to determine their own levels of success, as well.
v (List them!)
Reading and/or writing
Listening and speaking
Other content areas
Information literacy
Educational technology
vWhat content-area standards are integrated into this lesson? List them. Use specific standards from state standards in Texas or the state you and your partner have negotiated.
English:
13a Reading/Media Literacy: evaluate the role of media in focusing attention on events and informing opinion on issues;
What about a standard related to "describing historical/cultural" aspects of texts.
20 Writing/Conventions of Language/Handwriting. Students write legibly and use appropriate capitalization and punctuation conventions in their compositions. Students will continue to apply earlier standards with greater complexity.
I wouldn't include this one unless I was assessing the paragraph in this way. This is not being done in this lesson as written.
26 Listening and Speaking/Listening. Students will use comprehension skills to listen attentively to others in formal and informal settings. Students will continue to apply earlier standards with greater complexity.
I would select one or the other of these.
28 Listening and Speaking/Teamwork. Students work productively with others in teams. Students will continue to apply earlier standards with greater complexity. Students are expected to participate productively in discussions, plan agendas with clear goals and deadlines, set time limits for speakers, take notes, and vote on key issues.
Social Studies:
1 History: The student understands traditional historical points of reference in U.S. history through 1877
29 b Social Studies Skills: Analyze information by sequencing, categorizing, identifying cause-and-effect relationships, comparing, contrasting, finding the main idea, summarizing, making generalizations and predictions, and drawing inferences and conclusions;
29 c Social Studies Skills: organize and interpret information from outlines, reports, databases, and visuals, including graphs, charts, timelines, and maps;
29 f Social Studies Skills: identify bias in written, oral and visual material
Agreed
I believe your social studies TEKS show the benefits of interdisciplinary learning and teaching. I have been out of the classroom for 20 years-and taught outside of Texas and never had to turn in lesson plans or tie things to standards. I was trying to include anything that I could find that went with what was being taught. I will be more selective in the future.
Reading and/or Writing: 8th grade English Language Arts TEKS
13A - interpret both explicit and implicit messages in various forms of media
Agreed
Listening and Speaking: 8th grade English Language Arts TEKS
28 - Students are expected to participate productively in discussions, plan agendas with clear goals and deadlines, set time limits for speakers, take notes, and vote on key issues.
I don't think this is being assessed in this lesson.
Social Studies: 8th grade Social Studies TEKS
29B - analyze information by sequencing, categorizing, identifying cause-and-effect relationships, comparing, contrasting, finding the main idea, summarizing, making generalizations and predictions, and drawing inferences and conclusions
29C - organize and interpret information from outlines, reports, databases, and visuals, including graphs, charts, timelines, and maps
29F - identify bias in written, oral, and visual material
Information Literacy: 8th grade Technology Applications TEKS
3D - process data and communicate results
This usually refers to numerical data.
Educational Technology:8th grade Technology Applications TEKS
6D - understand and use software applications, including selecting and using software for a defined task
vWhich AASL indicators align with this lesson? Give both the number and the description for each.
1.2.1 Display initiative and engagement by posing questions and investigating the answers beyond the collection of superficial facts.
2.1.2 Organize knowledge so that it is useful
2.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to analyze and organize information
2.3.2 Consider diverse and global perspectives in drawing conclusions
4.4.4 Interpret new information based on cultural and social context.
1.2.1 Display initiative and engagement by posing questions and investigating the answers beyond the collection of superficial facts.
2.1.2 Organize knowledge so that it is useful
2.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to analyze and organize information
2.3.2 Consider diverse and global perspectives in drawing conclusions
4.4.4 Interpret new information based on cultural and social context
Implementation
- Process
MotivationCues: Project the 5.2 Editorial Cartoon “Asterisk,” by David Fitzsimmons. Educators and students work together to create a working definition of the editorial cartoon genre by explaining the similarities and differences between graphic novels and editorial cartoons. One educator guides the students’ input while the other records their responses in a Venn diagram.
Motivation is also known as “anticipatory set” in the Madeline Hunter, EEI lesson plan design.
vWill this invitation to learn be effective in capturing students’ interest? Why or why not?
I think this invitation to learn will be interesting to most students. Some are turned off by graphic novels and cartoons in general. For those, comparing the two may not be a good way to capture interest.
I would be interested in knowing how widespread that is. I think of cartoons (3 to 5 panels) and editorial cartoons (often one panel) as being very different from graphic novels.
Building on the students’ prior knowledge of graphic novels will capture many students’ interest, even though students who don’t like graphic novels may not find this as motivating. The idea of studying a text that is image driven will still pique their interest.
vWhat are your ideas to increase student buy-in to this lesson? Give at least one.
I think that one way to increase student buy-in is to show several types of graphic novels. This may be the perfect way to introduce them to a new genre that would be something new and fun to read.
See above.
To increase student buy-in without losing the focus on visual texts, I might consider other types of visual texts that I could compare and contrast with editorial cartoons, such as print advertisements or high quality brochures with many images.
Agreed. Another possibility is to look at these as an extension of this lesson.
Student-friendly Objectives
vAre these objectives at the instructional level of the targeted students? Give an example.
I think that a group of advanced 8th graders would be able to meet these objectives. Students at all ages are able to ask questions before, during and after reading. At this age they should also be able to categorize the types of questions they are asking.
Agreed
As upper level 8th grade students, our targeted audience for this lesson should have no problem asking questions before, during, and after they read. Additionally, they should easily be able to decide the category for their questions and determine the QAR.
vAre there terms in these objectives that may need to be taught to students? Give an example.
I think students would need to be taught what a QAR is. I also think they may need a definition of relative importance.
Agreed. We teach vocabulary best by "doing" it. Learning and practicing the same concepts/words in the classroom and library helps ensure students' comprehension.
Eighth graders will need a definition of QARs and may need examples of what “in the text,” “between the lines,” and “beyond the text” questions look like. Once they have seen a couple of examples, they should not have much difficulty.
Presentation
vDescribe the modeling aspect of this lesson.
The first cartoon is shown to the whole class while the educators model the types of questions that may be asked before, during and after reading. They also show students how to categorize the questions and how to determine the QAR.
Yes
Educators work together to model the development of questions before, during, and after they read while recording them in the proper category on the matrix.
vHow are the benefits of two or more educators maximized in the presentation component?
One educator is able to record answers while the other shares questions. There are two educators available to monitor during group work.
Agreed
The presentation of this lesson makes valuable use of two or more educators as one educator records responses from the other educator and students, enabling the class discussion to flow much more quickly. When both teachers contribute to the class discussion, students are also able to see multiple perspectives.
Think alouds are essential in all strategy instruction. For most school librarians, this is a growth opportunity when coteaching/teaching information literacy/inquiry skills as well as RCS.
Student Participation Procedures
- Raise hand to stop reading.
- Ask question and determine the category
- Propose the QAR
orStudent Practice Procedures
Day 1
Day 2
vAre the directions clear? Give an example.
Students know what to do-the directions are clear-students raise hand when they have a question to pose and the educator stops reading. That question is asked and categorized and then the QAR is suggested.
Agreed. Student participation and procedures should be posted. These can be especially beneficial for ELLs and special needs students. Students' ability to follow them is also improved by classroom-library collaboration when these are applied the same in both the classroom and the library.
The directions are very clear. From these instructions, middle school students should know exactly what to do. For example,when working with a partner or small group to complete the 5.2 Category Matrix, students have their exact process lined out for them. They should first discuss their ideas with their partner(s), ask and record their questions, and the categorize each question.
Guided Practice
In the guided practice portion of the lesson, educators monitor group work and the students’ ability to determine the most useful questions and develop a metaphor.
vHow are the benefits of two or more educators maximized in the guided practice component?
During Guided Practice there are two educators to monitor what the small groups are doing. They can help more students and listen in to more conversations to help keep students on track and explain things further if needed.
Agreed
Having multiple educators allows for closer monitoring of students as they complete their matrices, determine the most helpful questions, and write their metaphors. They educators, as a team, will be able to listen in on more student conversations to get an overall picture of the group’s understanding of the questioning strategy. As students seek feedback from the educators, they will also benefit from the different perspectives that comes from having more than one teacher in the room.
Closure
In the closure, students are paired with a different partner who read a different political cartoon where each one shares the topic, most helpful questions, and their reflections. Volunteers may read their reflections to the whole class.
Yes
vAre students active in the closure component? What are students doing for closure?
During closure students are active. They are sharing and discussing their questions and sharing what they had problems with.
Agreed
Students are very active in the closure. They are giving an overview of their cartoon and the most useful questions they asked to comprehend it and sharing their reflective paragraph.
Reflection
In the reflection, students address the following questions: How did questioning help us comprehend the text?, What was the most powerful metaphor you heard? and When might you use questioning with other kinds of texts.
vHow is the reflection component related to the learning objectives?
The reflection component has students tell how questioning helped them understand the text as well as what other types of text questioning may be helpful with. This ties back to the objective in that they not only were able to ask questions, but find out why that is helpful or important when trying to understand a text.
Agreed
The questions posed in the reflection directly align with the third objective -- evaluate questions and determine their relative importance in comprehending the text. The correlation is strongest with the third objective, but that is the objective with the highest thinking level. The first two objectives -- pose and record before, during, and after reading questions on a category matrix and categorize questions based on the possible location of the answer--function more as scaffolds to help move readers along to the higher level objective.
It is important for educators to commit closure and reflection to paper because it increases the likelihood that we will implement them. It is important to keep students active in both rather than summarizing or reflecting for them, which is what we do when we run out of time. If we understand this is when students crystalize their learning, then we will not scrimp on these lesson components.
- Extensions
Provided extensions include: conducting an inquiry based on the students’ unanswered questions while continuing to demonstrate questioning strategies throughout the inquiry process and provide students with lessons that prompt them to engage in asking before, during, and after questions while learning with other media such as film and websites.vWhat are your other ideas for extensions to this lesson? Describe at least one.
You could explore the different Persuasive Techniques used in political cartoons. The questioning strategies would be a little different in that you may ask things like why a cartoonist might have shown a relationship the way that they did or whether there is another way to show the same idea.
Excellent ideas.
I would continue to focus on applying the questioning strategy to visual texts by having students use questioning to comprehend historical photographs from websites like the Library of Congress.
Never let a published lesson plan limit your creativity!
Remember: Extensions are further invitations to classroom-library collaboration. They are worth thinking about during the planning stage!
30 Possible Points
Plus Individual Reflection – 20 Possible Points – See the A.3.2 Rubric for details.